Saturday, June 11, 2011

Red moon, yellow moon, blue moon ...

I've made a few skirts since I last posted!  My blue "new moon" skirt has been joined by cranberry rayon and sunny yellow cotton versions.   All three are lined with cotton lawn or batiste.  The blue one (which I showed you before) has celery green; the reddish one has pink; and the yellow is lined with white.   I wasn't much in the mood for self-photography, as it's hot outside (but too dark inside for good photos), and I was tired, and it's Saturday, and wow, I could probably come up with a dozen other reasons.   But don't worry, the karmic payback for my crappy attitude is crappy photos, but you can see the skirts in them, so mission accomplished!


I left the red one a little longer, and the rayon fabric makes it seem somewhat dressier.  It also doesn't wrinkle much.   I bought the necklace in Key West, and it goes great with the red skirt.  (It doesn't go with the blue and yellow ones, but I forgot to take it off.  And also to put my shoes back on -- I love shoes, but I love not wearing shoes even more!)


I had been wanting a bright golden skirt since I started seeing them around last Fall (though the Fall ones were usually a touch more mustard-y than mine).  I even tried on the corduroy version that Anthropologie had, but it didn't look right on me.  When I bought the fabric, I had intended to add self-made bias binding from the scraps of this dress, but if I had any leftovers, I can't find them now!  I do have another piece, but I didn't want to cut into it just for this.  Plan B was to use some of the bias binding I got in Paris, but somehow it didn't feel right.  I added some to the pockets, but with the twill tape already re-enforcing the pocket edge (as per the instructions Tasia gives in the Crescent skirt pattern) it was too stiff.  So off it came.   Instead, I took my inspiration from Patty the Snug Bug (who employs decorative stitches in dozens of awesomely creative ways) and bust out one of my sewing machine's approximately 600 unused fancy stitches for the pockets and hem.  The "in the ditch" stitching looks terrible because (A) I had no matching thread and (B) I used the specific foot for this purpose for the first time.  I do a better job with the regular foot and a watchful eye, I think.


On all the skirts I've made like this, I've just serged the pocket bottom seam with my thread rainbow.  But in this case it backfired on me: you could see the colored threads through the skirt fabric.  So I hid the serged seam with some self bias binding, and disaster averted.  And these pockets won't be developing holes anytime soon!




And finally, the blue skirt you've already seen hanging on a hanger.   I think it may still be my favorite, because of how soft the fabric is.   It has been worn to work twice already, and the red and yellow ones once each.  I reckon this is my TNT skirt pattern now.

Next up is another skirt for schmeebot, made from the leftover cranberry red rayon.  Then I may make another version or two of this skirt in prints, but after that I'll really try to move on.   I have a bunch of vintage dress patterns that are feeling quite neglected!  

2 comments:

  1. Ah, I love your skirts! I'm in desperate need of skirt basics, but my weekends keep getting eaten up with stuff other than sewing time. Aargh! I'm determined to get SOMETHING done tomorrow.

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  2. Lovely skirts, I like the red one with the slightly longer length best. But they all look fab on you. x

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